Attention turns to damage tallies as airlifts wane

LYONS, Colo. (AP) — The emergency airlifts of flood victims waned Tuesday, leaving rescue crews to systematically search the nooks and crannies of the northern Colorado foothills and transportation officials to gauge what it will take to rebuild the wasted landscape.

More than 3,000 people have been evacuated by air and ground since last week’s devastating floods, but calls for those emergency rescues are now dwindling, federal and state emergency officials said.

Military rescue crews have met to identify new areas to check and places to cover again with hundreds of people still considered missing.

“They’ve kind of transitioned from that initial response to going into more of a grid search,” Colorado National Guard Lt. Skye Robinson said.

In one of those searches Tuesday, Sgt. 1st Class Keith Bart and Staff Sgt. Jose Pantoja leaned out the window of a Blackhawk, giving the thumbs-up sign to people they spotted on the ground while flying outside of hard-hit Jamestown.

Most waved back and continued shoveling debris. But then Bart spotted two women waving red scarves, and the helicopter descended.

Pantoja attached his harness to the helicopter’s winch and was lowered to the ground. He clipped the women in, and they laughed as they were hoisted into the Blackhawk.

After dropping off the women at the Boulder airport, the Blackhawk was back in the air less than a minute later to resume the search.

The state’s latest count has dropped to about 580 people missing, and the number continues to decrease as the stranded get in touch with families.

One of the missing is Gerald Boland, a retired math teacher and basketball coach who lives in the damaged town of Lyons. Boland’s neighbors, all of whom defied a mandatory evacuation order, said Boland took his wife to safety Thursday then tried to return home.

Two search teams went looking for him Monday.

“He was very sensible. I find it amazing that he would do something that would put himself in harm’s way,” said neighbor Mike Lennard. “But you just never know under these circumstances.”

State officials reported six flood-related deaths, plus two women missing and presumed dead. The number was expected to increase. It could take weeks or even months to search through flooded areas looking for people who died.

With the airlifts tapering, state and local transportation officials are tallying the washed-out roads, collapsed bridges and twisted railroad lines. The rebuilding effort will cost hundreds of millions of dollars and take months, if not years.

Initial assessments have begun trickling in, but many areas remain inaccessible and the continuing emergency prevents a thorough understanding of the devastation’s scope.

“The numbers are going to change tomorrow as we get into more places, and the numbers are going to change the day after that,” Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesman Ricardo Zuniga said.

Northern Colorado’s broad agricultural expanses are especially affected, with more than 400 lane-miles of state highway and more than 30 bridges destroyed or impassable.

A Colorado Department of Transportation helicopter crew has been surveying damage, said department spokesman Ashley Mohr.

County officials have started their own damage tallies: 654 miles of roads in Weld County bordering Wyoming, 150 miles of roads in the Boulder County roads foothills, along with hundreds of bridges, culverts and canals.